1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to dental prosthesis, and more particularly to a new and improved kit for self-repair of dental prosthesis and a method of using the kit.
2. Introduction
Traditionally when a denture became fractured or a tooth from a denture broke or fell out, it was necessary to bring the broken denture to a professional dental technician to have it repaired. Not only was this inconvenient for a denture wearer since the denture was useless until it was repaired, but it could also be detrimental to a denture wearer's health or career since solid foods could not be chewed and words could not be understandably spoken. Furthermore, if the denture were to break while on vacation, either a technician would have to be found in that particular location or the denture would simply have to wait to be repaired until the vacation was ended. In either case, the vacation is far less enjoyable than if the denture had not broken.
Eventually some denture self-repair kits were developed. These kits permitted fractured dentures to be temporarily repaired, but did not provide enough tools or instructions to permanently repair the denture. Furthermore, using prior art denture repair left bumps and cracks in the denture which would interfere with the wearer's tongue and speech. In addition, none of the prior art kits provide any means for replacing a broken or lost denture tooth, thus if a tooth broke it would still be necessary to resort back to a dental technician to have the denture repaired.
A self-repair denture kit having the features described above is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,904 issued to Bogaert on Jun. 2, 1981. The '904 patent essentially discloses a kit having a fast-setting adhesive having an affinity for the denture material, and separate containers of a liquid monomer and a powdered polymer which, when mixed together, form a hard acrylic.
The method set forth in the '904 patent simply attempts to weld a fractured denture back together without removing any of the existing acrylic around the fracture. Therefore the repair is somewhat weak and easily susceptible to another fracture. Further, the repair is messy and lumpy thus causing uncomfortable, irritable feelings with the tongue. Also, the '904 patent offers no tools or methods for repairing a lost or broken denture tooth.